State Sen. David Rouzer called for a recount Tuesday in his attempt to unseat U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre.

McIntyre, a Robeson County Democrat, claimed victory Friday after the official canvass put him 655 votes ahead of Rouzer, 168,697-168,042, in the 7th Congressional District race.

The margin was well within the 1 percent threshold to trigger a mandatory, taxpayer-funded recount if Rouzer, a Republican from Johnston County, chose to call for one.

State elections officials said the recount would be held Monday through Wednesday of next week in the 12 counties that make up the district.

“Considering this is the closest Congressional race in the country and in light of the irregularity previously found in Bladen County, which significantly reduced the vote margin at that time, I have decided to request a mandatory recount of the votes cast in the 7th Congressional District as allowed by law,” Rouzer said in a news release Tuesday. “In a race this close, accidental human error could easily change the outcome. It is important to ensure that every legal vote cast is properly and accurately counted.”

Rouzer’s mention of Bladen County referred to a computer glitch that led to one precinct’s results initially being counted twice. What started as a 507-vote lead for McIntyre dipped to 420 after Bladen County elections officials corrected the problem on election night. McIntyre’s lead grew to 655 as provisional and absentee ballots were counted in the days following the Nov. 6 election.

The McIntyre campaign criticized Rouzer for the decision in a statement released Tuesday.

“While we respect the legal right for a recount, it is unfortunate that taxpayer dollars, time, and resources will be spent on a process that has been closely monitored,” said Lachlan McIntosh, McIntyre’s campaign manager. “All 12 county boards of elections in the 7th District have carefully reviewed the votes and the results have already shown Mike McIntyre to be the winner. For someone who has claimed fiscal responsibility, David Rouzer is asking taxpayers to pay for his pursuit of his own personal political ambition in a district he had drawn for himself.”

McIntosh referred to the redrawing of the district by Republicans who control the General Assembly as part of the once-a-decade redistricting process. Rouzer’s home county became part of the district for the first time under the new district maps.

While most counties will conduct their recounts Monday and Tuesday, at least one county — Duplin — needed an extra day to convene its board of elections and conduct its recount, said Gary Bartlett, state elections director.

The individual counties will pay the cost of the recount. Bartlett estimated the cost would be about $50,000 combined across the district, but that the price tag would increase if the recount resulted in a “hand and eye” counting.

Page 2 of 2 - Put simply, in an initial recount, all paper ballots are fed back through a tabulator for each precinct and the results are compared with the official election results. A separate process is used to ensure votes made through electronic machines were counted correctly.

Under different circumstances, either a sampling of ballots or all ballots cast in the race could be counted by hand.